18 Months; Hover Craft

On May 28th, Calvin reached his newest little milestone - 18 months old. Wow... It's so hard to believe that this wonderful little guy has been here in our world for a year-and-a-half now (+ 40 weeks and 5 days, if you count the pregnancy, too).  

The time has, predictably, flown by, but at the same time, it also feels like a little lifetime.  A lifetime full of wonder, exploration and discovery, so much joy, a little bit of frustration, and a whole helluva lot of love.  

Cal is wonderful - so happy, funny, friendly, smart, sweet and ever-growing. Right now, he loves dinosaurs (dinosaur books are his favorite), playing in water, seeing birds and airplanes flying, fish swimming, and our cats playing.  

Other pastimes include learning new words all the time, starting to learn his colors and numbers, dancing, making friends with the neighbor kids, watching videos of himself on my phone, eating just about anything and everything, helping me make coffee, and, laughing as we chase him while he's running full-speed in the opposite direction that we want him to go.  He's such a little rascal!

His well-baby doctor's appointment isn't for another week, but at that time we'll get to find out how big he is now - methinks he'll definitely still be in the highest of percentiles for height and weight, as he has been since he was about 9 months old.  He started out so little, but sure has "caught up" ever since.

On a personal note, I am absolutely loving the mama thing.  Sure, there are moments where his behavior frustrates me (but that is practically a given at this age, and I know there will be a lot more of that to come), and I'm always wishing I could spend more time with him (but I'm so thankful for the wonderful care he receives every day at his awesome daycare school), but watching him grow and develop has just been so incredible.

I did recently discover, though, that perhaps I may worry/ hover too much? I'm sure it's pretty normal, especially for first-time parents, but I find myself pretty much constantly "on alert" for any situation which might present a danger to him.  We were at a neighbor's Memorial Day cookout this past Monday with 3 other families, and none of those parents kept an eagle-eye on their children at all times like I did.  But, to be fair, they're all at least on their second child (the hosting family has 4!), and only one of them is younger than Cal.  

One thing I sometimes have trouble getting past, though, is imagining calamities in my head.  I suppose I do it to bring my attention to the possible danger and to try to prepare for it if, heaven forbid, it did ever happen, but these thoughts are SO disturbing sometimes.  Obviously I can't just stick my head in the proverbial sand and ignore it all, nor can I wrap Calvin in 50 layers of bubble wrap, as much as I wish sometimes that I could, but I could really live without this near-constant anxiety.  The good thing is that I really, thoroughly relish the time I spend with Cal, so even though I (obviously) do all I can to protect him, I don't let the fear take over, so that I can't enjoy my life with him, but it's always there, at least in the background.  I suppose finding a good balance with this is something with which most all parents struggle.  It's just so strange to me to feel like this, because usually I'm quite laid back.

Regardless, I continue to be amazed every day at how completely enveloping and consuming my love is for him.  I'm forever grateful I'm one of the lucky ones who get to experience it firsthand.  I love love love my brilliant little boy, always always.

And without further ado, here are his 18-month pictures that I took this past weekend.  He had so. much. fun. at the splash pad!  We'll definitely go back soon.

Our Easter Weekend: Suddenly: A Cookout; Baseball; Easter Eggs; and a Zoo Carousel Ride

I know it's been some time since I last posted, but I definitely wanted to jump on to write about our Easter weekend.  What a busy and fun one it was!

My oldest sister, Diana, and her family came up to join us for the holiday, which was so lovely.  Di is absolutely head over heels for Calvin, so I love any time she gets to spend with him.  They came over Friday evening; we hosted a rather impromptu cookout, whuch turned out great!  Di's longtime friend Stacey and her family joined us as well, and we all had so much fun.  Calvin especially loved being the center of attention; he's such a ham!

Saturday Brian, Calvin and I headed up to Cleveland for an Indians game (yay Brian for being a VIP and getting free tickets!).  Although it was chilly, and the Tribe ended up losing, the experience of being there is always awesome. I picked up a new Kipnis tee, and we got Calvin a 3-pack set of Indians onesies.  Calvin said "baseball" (well, more like "BAH-bah") about 7,500 times throughout the day; he just loves it.

We headed back home after the 7th inning and made our way over to my Mom's house for Easter dinner with the family.  Brian made delectable Mac & cheese as his contribution to the meal, and I made a cake, yum!  Calvin's contribution was lots of smiles, giggles, and his compliments to the chefs, as he ate so much food!

Before the meal, we had a little Easter egg hunt for him.  Di was kind enough to supply Cheerio-filled eggs, and even "hid" them on the lawn.  Calvin only had to be shown once what to do - then he picked up his first egg... and chucked it, just as I predicted he would.  After that, though, he placed each egg he picked up in his basket.  Oh, it was so adorable; we were so delighted watching him.  What a doll.

Sunday we attempted to do our own little egg hunt for him again, but he was much more interested in trying to run down the street, so we gave up on that pretty quickly.  We did give him his Easter basket, though, which was a sweet little few moments.  In it I got a box of sidewalk chalk, a mini plastic Slinky, a bath duckie that paddles his little feet, some Hot Wheels cars (there were more inside his eggs), bubbles, rainbow Goldfish crackers, and, I won't lie, some chocolate.  I let him have 1 piece a day, and I help myself to some too.  Obviously that's a crucial component to the basket.  :D

After the egg hunt fail, we piled into the car to go to the zoo.  They had some special events and such going on for Easter, and the weather was so nice that it was great to get out.  Cal absolutely loved the aquarium - they recently got fish at school, so he gets pretty excited about them these days.  Another highlight was when he spotted and chased after a goose by the lake - this kid is fearless, I'm telling you.  I hovered very close by, because I have a healthy fear of geese, as everyone should, and like I said to Cal (which made a passer-by who heard it laugh), "Calvin, I really don't need you getting attacked by a goose."

But by far the best part of our zoo visit was Calvin's first carousel ride.  As we passed by it, I suggested maybe we do it.  On our way back, I bought the ticket and we jumped into line.  I picked a glossy black horse for him to ride, and told him he had to hold on to the pole (which he did, the whole time!).  I sang his ride-the-horsey song to him while we waited for it to begin... And then we were off!  I wasn't sure how he'd react, but I had nothing to worry about - he loved it!  I held on tight to him as his horse went up and down, the music played, the background whizzed by, every time he saw daddy looking on and taking pictures, he'd smile and wave and say, "Dada!", and he LAUGHED! Oh, he LOVED it!

I can never be quite sure what parenting moments will make me emotional, especially considering that I'm not at all a "crier", but that, that definitely made me tear up.  Knowing it was another first for him, feeling thrilled it went so very well, and just in awe of all his innocence and wonder... It was just amazing.  It's a beautiful memory I'll have always.

Love, love LOVE my baby boy.